Hartford Athletic survived a late resurgence by Charlotte Independence to win their USL Cup Quarterfinal 4-2 and advance to the Semifinal for the second year running. A brace from Sadat Anaku was supplemented by goals from Adewale Obalola and Augi Williams as Hartford weathered two late goals for the hosts to claim victory at Mecklenburg County Sportsplex.

Before the game, Brendan Burke had emphasized the need for his team to come with the right intent, and they absolutely did, getting on top of Charlotte from the opening whistle and controlling the flow of the game. All of Hartford’s attacking players were in the mix, and the addition of Sebastian Anderson and Emmanuel Samadia made as much difference as should be expected, giving the Latics threat on both flanks.

It was a brilliant first half for Anaku, who scored twice in less than 15 minutes to put his club in the driver’s seat. The goals have not yet been there on a regular basis for the Ugandan forward, but he was on target twice on Wednesday night. For the first goal, Michael Adedokun floated a ball into the box that Augi Williams did well to control and put back across the box, where Anaku was lurking to smash it home from close range.

And for the second, he seized on the kind of mistake that Hartford capitalized on so often last season. A badly misplayed ball in the Charlotte defense gave Anaku only the keeper to beat to double his tally, and he made no mistake, firing past Matt Levy to put Hartford firmly in control of the fixture.

The only blemish for Hartford in the first half was the withdrawal of Anaku shortly after he scored his second goal, although given that he is not yet fully fit and played an hour on Sunday, it could simply have been precautionary, as Burke had plenty of attacking options on his bench. Still, it will be something to keep an eye on, as the Latics are just about back to full health, and will not want to see any player ending up back on the injury report.

In this case, Anaku’s replacement was Adewale Obalola, who picked up where his teammate left off, adding Hartford’s third of the night seven minutes into the second half. Emmanuel Samadia and Michael Adedokun combined down the left hand side, and with Charlotte overcomitting, Samadia was able to round the corner and fizz the ball across the box for Obalola to stab goalwards from close range. Levy got a hand on it, but could only palm the ball into the back of his own net.

Burke took this opportunity to make a number of changes, pulling off Samadia, along with Sebastian Anderson and Beverly Makangila all coming off, to be replaced by Baboucarr Njie, TJ Presthus and Christos Hadjipaschalis. With all three of Samadia, Anderson and Makangila working their way back to full fitness, the ability to take them off with the game well in hand was about the best outcome Burke could have hoped for.

And Hartford seemed to be out of sight in the 67th minute, when Augi Williams found the back of the net for the third time in the competition. A free kick out on the left hand side was whipped across the face of goal by Adedokun, with Williams beating his man at the back post to power a header goalwards. Once again, Levy got a hand to it, but the header was too strong, and Hartford took their lead to 4-nil.

Charlotte might have the best attack in League One, but for 75 minutes against Hartford, it hardly looked any better than Westchester or Cosmos, both of whom had struggled to generate much in the way of meaningful attacking opportunities. And when Luis Álvarez suffered an injury, Charlotte seemed ready to throw in the towel, making a raft of changes that also brought off playmaker Jon Bakero.

Charlotte weren’t quite done, though, as a bit of luck gave it a window of opportunity. Substitute Mathis Guffroy uncorked a shot that took a wicked deflection off Jordan Scarlett and flew into the back of the net with Antony Siaha stranded. Charlotte had shown a little bit of life, and Hartford had perhaps eased off the gas a little since the fourth goal, but it was still a disappointing bounce.

Hartford then perhaps lost a little concentration, and Charlotte were able to work the ball down the left-hand side of the attack, with Clay Dimick perhaps the recipient of a fortunate bounce before he crossed well for Reudd Manin to smash home from close range and make the remainder of the game a little more interesting.

In truth, though, the major interest in the last stages of the game were three failed Football Video Support (FVS) challenges, with Brendan Burke twice calling for a review on plays that he felt deserved a straight red, and Charlotte manager Mike Jeffries asking for a review of a possible handball in the box, but Ekaterina Koroleva elected to stick with her initial decision in all three cases, and the final whistle ultimately blew on a Hartford victory.

It was one of Hartford’s best all-round performances of the year, with Anaku’s brace standing out, but Michael Adedokun, Augi Williams and Emmanuel Samadia all played extremely well, and it’s obvious how much better this team can be when Burke has legitimate options at his disposal, rather than simply a list of who is healthy. It’s a job well done for Hartford who are now on to the semifinals, which will be played on Wednesday, September 9.

The Latics will not find out their opponent until 1 PM on Thursday, August 13, when the semifinal draw is held. Also in the pot will be Louisville City, San Antonio FC and Colorado Springs Switchbacks, all of whom won their respective quarterfinals on Wednesday night.